


Memory Board

by ghostchibi



Series: Arcverse [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Community: falloutkinkmeme, Gen, spoilers for Blind Betrayal/BoS quest line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5396633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostchibi/pseuds/ghostchibi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danse remembers the Lone Wanderer.</p><p>---</p><p>Crossposting from a fill on the kink meme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memory Board

**Author's Note:**

> The request was essentially "anything involving a young Danse and the LW" and I ended up partially linking it to [this fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5384849) from earlier because I am hopeless. Replaced all instances of "Sole" with Arc, since the related fic uses Arc as the Sole Survivor.

 

It's the Vault suit that sets off the memories. Arc's stopped wearing it as of late, which is a good thing because even though the number's not quite the same the blue and yellow and emblazoned numbers won't stop prodding at Danse's mind and he feels heartsick, too much, too many things to remember.

He sees the Vault suit, and remembers the Lone Wanderer.

\-----

Arthur tugs at his arm, and attempts to point covertly at the figure walking through the Citadel courtyard.

She has golden brown hair, just like Arthur had described; average height for a woman, and a stride full of confidence, perhaps bordering on defiance.

"Danse, that's her!" he whispers a bit too loudly, and the figure turns toward them. Arthur jumps and almost seems to hide himself behind Danse; Danse, on the other hand, has nowhere to hide, and stands ramrod straight when the so-called Lone Wanderer approaches.

Well, she's got a dog too. So maybe not so "lone" after all.

"Arthur, you're not trying to set me up with someone, are you?" she asks, and Arthur grins from behind Danse's legs.

"Nahhh. I know you like girls," he giggles. "Hi Dogmeat."

The dog licks Arthur's face happily, and it takes Danse a moment before he realizes that he's supposed to be watching Arthur and that he's probably not supposed to be letting random wild dogs lick the Maxson line's last survivor.

"Hey," he scolds at the dog, who seems completely undeterred by Danse.

"Dogmeat's not any trouble. He's just saying hi," the woman says. She looks like a Wastelander, rough edges and and aura of irradiated dirt and grime about her, but there's a softness behind it. She regards Danse with some distance, although her expression is far more open when she turns to Arthur again.

"So, buddy, who's your babysitter?"

"He's not my babysitter," Arthur retorts. "He's Initiate Danse. He's my friend."

To be completely honest, Danse is in fact Arthur's babysitter. With too many people running around busy and too many chances for Arthur to get into trouble, it was decided that he should have someone to watch over him. And somehow, that duty ended up falling onto Danse.

"Danse, huh?" she asks, and watches him as if she's sizing him up to check for trouble. Danse stares straight back at her.

" _Initiate_ Danse," he corrects. She might not be Brotherhood, but she's going to at least treat him with the respect he deserves.

"Uh-huh. Well, Initiate Danse, Squire Maxson, unfortunately I have to talk to Scribe Rothchild about something that's probably going to kill me from boredom. I'll talk to you later, Arthur," she adds, winking at the boy.

"Isn't she great?" Arthur asks Danse excitedly. Danse can't really say he has the same enthusiasm for her.

\--

She returns to the Citadel looking like hell.

The Lone Wanderer is a regular sight by now, and she doesn't cause as many heads to turn as she once did. But today, as she marches straight through the courtyard with the same determination that one might have cutting a warpath through enemy lines, everyone notices her.

Arthur watches with wide eyes, and doesn't call out to her. He seems to consider it for a moment, but hesitates, and just watches as she stomps by. Dogmeat is at her heels, whining, and there's another young man about her age in leather armor who seems to be trying to calm her down. Danse watches with curiosity, her angry stomping audible to everyone.

"Aurelia, c'mon, you know you can't-"

"I will fight Lyons barehanded if that's what I need to do!" she snaps at her companion, who puts up his hands defensively. "Everything I've done! Everything Dad did, everything Dr. Li did, and here I am running around like a dumbass-"

She huffs, and storms off.

That's the first time Danse sees her angry.

\--

When she leaves, she looks slightly less likely to combust at any moment, although Danse is wary about Arthur approaching her. Not that he has a choice in the matter, because Arthur makes a mad dash for her and Danse has to sprint to catch up.

"Aurelia? Are you okay?" Arthur asks, eyes big as he hugs her hips. She looks like she's been crying, eyes rimmed with red and shoulders drooped.

"I'm okay," she reassures Arthur, her face instantly hiding the anger that Danse knows is still bubbling underneath. He approaches cautiously, and she regards him with a cold stare at first before snorting and looking back to Arthur.

"What happened?"

"I... I got into a fight with the Elder," she admits, too earnestly for Arthur to be hearing. Danse frowns.

"That isn't the sort of thing that you should be telling him-"

"Oh piss off, Initiate," she mutters. "He asked me, I'm telling him the truth."

"That isn't for you to decide-"

"I _said_ ," she repeats, louder and angrier this time. "Piss. Off. Initiate."

"It is my responsibility to watch over Squire Maxson," Danse retorts. "Wherever he goes, I go. _I_ decide what is and isn't appropriate for him, and _I_ don't think you should be telling him about these issues of yours with the Elder."

"Fuck you, Initiate. Let Arthur have a friend for five seconds before you Brotherhood shitters turn him into another one of your uptight soldier boys," she spits, and now has both arms wrapped around Arthur. He clings to her, staring wide-eyed at her and Danse.

"I don't care who you are," Danse snarls. "You have no right to talk to me like that, and you have no authority over me. If you have a problem with how the Brotherhood raises him, you take it up with the Elder. Arthur, we are going."

The boy doesn't seem to want to leave.

" _Now_ ," Danse stresses.

Hesitantly, Arthur pulls away from Aurelia. Danse thinks that for a moment she might pull him back in, but she lets him leave without incident.

"Bye Aurelia," Arthur says sadly.

"Bye, Arthur," she replies, and gives Danse another cold stare before turning on her heel and leaving.

\--

"It's okay to miss people. It's okay to be sad, yeah? We're sad because we loved them."

By this point, Danse knows every single one of Arthur's hiding places that he flees to when he needs to be alone. Usually Danse is satisfied with waiting until Arthur comes out on his own, but this time he hears another voice.

Aurelia's. The Lone Wanderer is with Arthur.

It's not a fear that she'll hurt Arthur, exactly, that makes Danse's heart jump. But given Danse's last encounter with her (and Arthur's anger at him for a decent amount of time), he's not too keen on leaving Arthur alone with her. So this time, he opens the dilapidated door to the abandoned room, and looks around for any sign of the two.

Immediately they both go quiet at the noise. Danse notices one of the desks is a little out of place, and that a lamp on the surface has fallen over.

He walks over, peering under the desk, and sees Aurelia and Arthur staring back at him. Somehow, they've managed to jam both of themselves under the desk side by side.

"I'm not going to ask how you both managed to fit under there," he begins. "But I can't imagine that it's very comfortable."

"It's comfortable enough, _Initiate_ ," Aurelia replies curtly.

"I'm not trying to start a fight, Wanderer."

"Then don't come barging in on private conversations. And for god's sake, don't call me that. Just Aurelia is fine."

Both of them look like they've been crying. Arthur wipes his eyes with his sleeve, and sniffles.

"It's okay," he says. "We were just talking."

"You should come out now," Danse replies. "People are looking for you, Arthur."

The boy glances over to Aurelia, who nods and motions toward Danse with her head. Apparently satisfied, Arthur crawls out from under the desk and over to Danse, who opens his arms and picks him up. Arthur is already twelve, probably too old to be picked up like this, but Danse remembers what it felt like to be twelve and scared and sad and, if he's right about what the conversation was about, alone.

It's only after he returns Arthur to his room that Danse realizes that Aurelia didn't follow him out of the room.

"Dammit," he sighs to himself, and against his better judgement retraces his steps back to the little hideaway. Just as he'd expected, he finds Aurelia still curled up under the desk. Her eyes flick up to him in recognition, before darting back to the floor.

Danse sits down in front of her silently, legs crossed.

"I miss him so much," she says quietly. "And I'm so angry because he shouldn't have died the way he did."

Danse assumes that she's talking about her father; practically everyone in the Citadel knows about James's death.

"If- if the Brotherhood was there at Project Purity, then they could have held the Enclave off. Or maybe the Enclave wouldn't have shown up in the first place. Even if they did, Dad wouldn't have trapped himself and Autumn in like that. He would have fled with the rest of the scientists. I could have kept them safe while the Brotherhood took out Autumn. Dad killed himself, you know? He killed himself because he thought he could take down Autumn too. And it killed him, and it didn't kill Autumn. The bastard survived and walked away."

"You didn't kill him when we took back the Purifier," Danse says.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't bring Dad back. And he would have been disappointed in me."

Silence settles between them again, interrupted only by Aurelia's soft sniffles. Danse stares down the tiled floor, wondering if he should speak.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you the other day."

His head shoots up; he wasn't expecting an apology, of all things.

"What?"

"The other day, when I got into a fight with the Elder and you got mad at me for telling Arthur. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just-" A sigh, and a cough. "I don't want to see Arthur get chewed up by the Wasteland. I want him to have a friend. He's just a kid, and the Proctors are all talking about him being a leader one day. He's twelve! And he's learning how to shoot and how to kill a man with his bare hands. Everyone treats him like he needs to be grown up already. I just want to be his friend."

Aurelia falls silent momentarily, collecting her thoughts.

"I don't want Arthur to turn out like me," she admits. "I want him to stay kind and curious and happy. I don't want him anywhere near the Brotherhood. It'll just mess him up, like the Wasteland messed me up. I'm 21, and I've killed more people than I can count. First thing I think of when I see people is how to take them out if they try anything funny with me. Arthur? His first reaction is to ask if someone's met Sarah yet, and if they like her."

"He's a Maxson," Danse says. "It's his birthright. It's a part of his blood."

"Maxson's aren't the only ones who can fight and lead."

"I know."

The silence that settles over them is less strained this time.

\--

"Look," Aurelia snaps. "Danse, make up your mind about whether you're going to be angry at him or proud of him. Don't be both."

"I _will_ be both, because I _am_ both," Danse replies. He rubs his face with a sort of weariness that never seems to leave him as of late. "Am I proud of the fact that he took down a Deathclaw? Yes. Am I also angry as hell that he took a Deathclaw on by himself? _Yes_."

"I meant whether or not you're going to act like you're angry or proud, because you can't be both in front of Rothchild or he's going to have a fit. I mean, he's going to have a fit if you're proud anyway, but you know what I mean. Don't half-ass it."

"Are you telling me to piss off Scribe Rothchild, Aurelia?"

"Look, all I'm saying is that I've already pissed him off and the only way to do it is to do it right."

Danse shakes his head, and opens the door to let himself and Aurelia in.

Arthur's face lights up immediately when he sees the two, despite the stitched-up cut on his cheek and his arm in a sling.

"That's going to scar up into something fierce," Aurelia says, grinning. "So, what does the littlest monster slayer have to say for himself to big angry Knight Danse?"

"I'm not-"

"You literally told me three seconds ago outside that you were equally angry and proud, don't start that."

Danse shoots Aurelia a look, the same kind he gives Arthur when he's trying to dissuade him from something.

"It would have killed Initiate Nikhil," Arthur argues. "I couldn't not do something."

"And thanks to you, Initiate Nikhil only has to worry about his leg having parts missing from it, not his entire lower half missing," Danse says. "I know. You did a good thing, even if it makes me angry as hell because you could have died."

"You're only fifteen, you're not allowed to die yet. Besides, aren't you going to be little King Arthur Maxson?"

" _Elder_ Arthur Maxson," Arthur corrects, but Aurelia just laughs.

"Same difference, buddy."

\--

Aurelia approaches Danse, two tumblers held in one hand an a bottle of scotch in the other. She hops down onto the concrete, letting her legs dangle down, and places the glasses and bottle between herself and Danse quietly.

"Cutler didn't deserve that," Danse murmurs.

Aurelia just nods.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted a distraction or not," she explains regarding the scotch. "Whichever makes you feel better."

He turns to look at her, not bothering to hide the tears still welling up in the corners of his eyes. Aurelia reaches over and places her hand on top of his.

"Danse, I'm so sorry."

"At least he's free now, right? He's not stuck as a monster."

Aurelia nods.

"You did the right thing."

It doesn't make the pain go away, or the guilt any less intense, but Danse is thankful regardless.

\--

"A world without you and Arthur would be an awful one," Aurelia says. "So neither of you are allowed to die. Danse, please make sure Arthur is safe. He shouldn't be doing this. He's only sixteen, he doesn't deserve this."

"I know."

"Promise me you'll keep him safe."

"I promise."

"Promise me you'll stay safe."

"I promise."

The words hold no weight, but Aurelia takes what she can get.

\--

"Danse, I can't stay. Look at him! And the things he says-"

"Aurelia," Danse says firmly, grabbing her wrist. "You can't leave. You have to stay."

"I can't. I can't stay and watch this happen. I can't stop it. I can't watch this happen to him."

She's crying. Danse knows that it's tearing her up inside, but Arthur desperately needs her to stay.

"It'll kill him if you leave."

"It'll kill me if I stay! God, how much of what he says is because of me, anyway? I'm bitter and I'm nasty, and I just wanted to keep him away from that. And look how that turned out. This is my fault, I can't keep poisoning him like this-"

"Aurelia, please."

"No no no, I can't stay. I can't do this. I tried, god knows I tried. But you believe it too, don't you? All that 'tech should stay out of everyone's hands,' that Outcast nonsense-"

"That 'Outcast nonsense' is the true creed of the Brotherhood of Steel."

"And that's why I can't stay."

Her hands grip her pack. She's torn between staying and going. She doesn't want to leave Arthur and Danse, but she can't bear to watch what's unfolding in front of her.

"You two are some of the closest friends I have," she grits out through her teeth. "I have to go. I can't watch this happen to Arthur. Maybe if I leave, he'll realize what's happened to him."

"If you leave, who else is going to watch out for him?"

"You."

"I can't do it by myself."

"You managed to until I stopped yelling at you long enough to talk to you."

"Aurelia, he was ten. There was hardly anything to protect him from."

"Yes there was. You did fine, you'll do fine. I'm just so angry with him right now, and I can't keep going like this. I have to leave."

And just like that, the next day she's gone. Danse considers looking for her like he did Cutler, but she's not Brotherhood. She's not important enough to search for. Arthur doesn't make a single comment on it, and simply pushes the topic away whenever it's brought up with the explanation that she's not a Brotherhood member and thus can't have Brotherhood time and effort wasted on her.

It's the last time Danse will see her.

\-----

As it turns out, this suit of armor is rather different from the Brotherhood power armor Danse is used to. He swears as he knocks a connection loose again, and ignores the footsteps trudging up to the doors of the workshop.

"Need any help there?"

Danse shakes his head at Arc, not turning around. He explains that he's fine, that there's too much detail work for two hands to do without both knowing what to do, when he's suddenly tackled from behind and someone has firmly attached themself around his midsection.

"Who- what's- please let go of me?"

The noise he hears almost sounds too high pitched to be human, and when he turns around his heart stops for a moment.

Danse had wondered for a long time what had happened to Aurelia. Is she safe? Is she still in the Capital Wasteland? Is she even _alive?_ Those questions had only become more insistent with his exile from the Brotherhood, a desperate want for something from his past that he might still be able to hold onto. But he had no idea where she could be, or how to contact her. And so he'd given up hope of ever seeing her again.

" _Aurelia?_ "

Golden brown hair, and an expression that looks like she's about to burst into tears at any moment.

"What are you doing here?" Danse asks, feeling like all the breath just got punched out of his lungs.

"I could ask the same for you," she begins, before she dissolves into stammers of disbelief and relief and hugs him tightly again.

Somehow, the Lone Wanderer had found him again.


End file.
